STILL HOT IN KOREA! WEEK 3

Things in Korea this past week were wonderful, busy, and hot. According to one of the members of our ward, the hottest part of all of Asia is Korea right now--especially the part where I am serving. So, I get to enjoy the heat a little bit more, and then it will start to cool off in another week. Honestly, it hasn't bothered me really at all. I don't mind it one bit.

 

Korean is getting better and better with each passing week that we have. I am able to understand more and more with every single week that passes by, and I am able to speak more every day. The challenge now is being able to express what I feel through the language which is a really hard thing to do. But, with time and with experience, I know that I will be able to do it.

 

This past week our investigators did ok. We actually met two new  investigators who seem to have a lot of potential, so that is really exciting. One of them we found on the old records who had previously met missionaries, and the other one we found on the street--through a miraculous way. Oh, so there a HUGE push for missionary work in our mission right now. To give you a taste, the mission president set a goal for every ward to have 10 baptisms a month for the next 6 months. Previous to this announcement, the expectation was 17 for the entire mission. So, we go to work, and the Lord will provide when we have done all that we can do.

 

To the great story! Yesterday we had a wonderful finding experience. My companion and I were deciding which member to visit to develop Jong so that we could build a relationship with the members and we decided on this one guy that apparently had never talked to the missionaries until the week that all the greenies came. My companion talked to him at church and their conversation drifted to spaghetti. After we decided to go see him, we thought that we would bring him some food (which really builds relationships in Korea). When we went to look in the cupboard, it just so happened that one of the missionaries in our apartment had gotten some boxed spaghetti and tomato paste from his mother and had not cooked it yet. It was perfect! We planned the two members that we were going to visit and then left to start the day. The first member was the Patriarch of the Stake, the Chook boke saw neem. Recently the Stake president has told us to do more kopjoggy, or sudden visits to members, so we called when we got to his apartment, and he was not there. So, we decided to knock some of the apartments around him and then go back for dinner. After dinner we left to go a little bit out of our area to the north (a 30 minute ish bus ride). When we arrived we spent about 15 mintues until we found the second member's house. We were super excited to talk to him and to give him the spaghetti that we had for him. When we got to his home, he wasn't there. He didn't have a phone, and there was no way to know where he went, or when he would be coming back. So, it was what it was. We decided that we were up there for some reason so we decided to go find some apartments to knock before we made the trek home. As we were going back we ran into a man who had incredible interest and faith. We talked to him for a solid hour about our church and about how it could help him with his drinking problem (he was a little tipsy when we talked to him). He said he would attend the churchee (when they try to speak in English that is how they say church--haha!) and that he would find out more about the Book of Mormon (in Korean it is Mormon Gyong). Anyways, he arranged to meet with us again. I have never yet met someone who has had such real intent and needed the gospel in his life at this time than this person. We have very high hopes for him, and will call him today to confirm that appointment. We traveled back on the bus, and realized that all those disappointments throughout the day were really God's way of leading us to the one. It reminds me of the wonderful words of the song Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd. I love the words to that hymn. If you want a desire to do missionary work read the words to that hymn.

 

Korea is a little different than America. Here we are leading the pioneering of the LatterDay Saint Church in many areas. People have never heard of our church. We are introducing our message to them and most just say that they have never heard of it (probably 80-90%). It is a great opportunity to help others have what I have found to be the greatest and most rewarding pattern of life and constituent firmness established by the truths contained therein. Things in Korea are changing a lot. You can see the difference in the generations and in the younger culture. Remember that having a living prophet and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles provides a source of constancy in a world of change.

 

Let's see. Sunday was a sad day because the couple that we met with did not attend church. That was really sad. However, we continue to have very high hopes for them, and the Lord does also. I have felt incredible peace and assurances in their restaurant while we have been teaching them. They are in God's hands and His plans for them will eventually lead them back to Him. I am trying to find our role in HIs plan for them in order to help them most. They really are the most wonderful people though. Truly amazing.

 

For those in Corvallis, I just heard at lunch from another elder about Eric Sung, where he's at and how he's doing. He goes to some school that is apparently...amazing. At least when the other members heard that he attended, they were intimidated by him. He's 16 or 17 now and comes out to church whenever he receives special permission from his school to go. I am super excited when I will hopefully have the opportunity to serve in his area and to get to know him more (I hope to learn more Korean before then). So yep, he's doing well!

 

Oh, so on Thursday we had a ward picnic, which was...amazing. We went down to the coast and first had a wonderful experience digging for clams, which was super cool--an apparently super valuable. In one hour of time, we dug about $40 worth. That's a pretty good rate. We then went to the beach where it was about 90 F out and just absolutely gorgeous. I imagine almost like a Pacific Island sort of beach. There were tree covered mountain islands...one of the families took a lot of pictures, and so those will come soon. It was great. I looked across the Ocean, and I think I saw the United States! (haha....over Japan and Hawaii...and over 3000 miles of ocean)

 

The man on the moped called us back once and we are still trying to contact him to set up an appointment with him. We will see what happens. The old man that we are teaching understood us (after a lot of prayer and help from God) and we were able to get him a little bit excited about church. He left on a trip though for pretty much the rest of the month, so we told him to read the Book of Mormon on the road and to ponder its meaning and to pray a lot. We call him to check up on him.

 

As for kind of weird stuff that I have done, this week (actually today), we literally took Octopi, cooked them and then just ate them. Tasted like squishy jello (texture wise) fish. It was interesting. Yep, oh, and we talked to one person on the street about this one church in Korea that supposedly infiltrates other churches and then leads them away to their church. He decided that since there were so many Christian churches in Korea and theiy are all pretty crazy, that he would be Bulkyo (Buddhist) so that he could be "religious" without actually attending a church. We oftentimes get very strange looks from people around who have not seen that many foreigners around. At home one day we put banana pancake batter in the rice cooker and make banana bread for breakfast the next morning. Great times.

 

Thought for this week is the the Lord is in control. Period. You can do all that you can do, but if you don't have His help, you will not succeed, at least not in the long run, and never in the eternal run. I have learned that very apparently during my mission so far. You do as much as you can do, and then the Lord will supply His help in order to make up for what you cannot do. Everything good that happens to us is a tender mercy of the Lord. The other day I found a coin on the road at a bus stop. That made it so I had exactly the fair required (the rest of my bills were too high to use at all). Little things like that help a lot. There was a day where I was getting a little bit down because of the language, and every single time that I started to get into a negative mode, the Lord would send someone and they would buy us something to drink. Little things like that which help me and others. The tender mercies of the Lord are everywhere.

 

So, if you want something to change in your life, especially concering yourself, then do everything you can to improve it, and when all is said and done, rely on the Lord to help make up the difference. That is key and will help you all the time in your lives.

 

I am so excited (I don't think you know how excited) for you in MInnesota! Keep up enjoying everything there is.  Have a great week. I will update you with things (and hopefully have picnic pictures soon to send to you). Have a wonderful week.

 

Elder Strahl

2nd Week in Korea

Hello Mother and Family!!!

So, another week has gone by, and here the days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days. This past week Korea experience what they Bool-go, which pretty much translates to "extreme heat". Yep, it's been pretty hot. One of the members said that it has been the hottest it's been in 18 years! For a taste, on Thursday it was 102 degrees Fahrenheit with 80-90% humidity...which is pretty hot. Luckily, I haven't been bothered by it, there is Gospel waiting to be shared!

This week I was able to meet with the rest of our investigators and get to know them better and to work with them. I did not have a chance to meet with Richard because we usually meet with him during the English class, but my companion wanted me to experience the English class, so he taught with another Elder. The guy that stopped us on the moped we called, he told us he was busy, and so we are going to call him again. Oh, so the city that I am currently serving in is Gwangju. Pretty much right smackdab in the downtown area which is where our church is. Gwangju is south of Taejon.

As I went throughout this week I have been able to understand more Korean! When certain people speak I can understand about 60-70%. Basically I can understand the subject, but not the intent, which is difficult a lot of the time, but hey, line upon line and precept upon precept. 

This week we had a special experience with an investigator couple that we have. Background: They own a restaurant and they have a daughter who is a member and who is now at the MTC going to serve her mission in Seoul, Korea. They haven't had any interest in the church until lately when their daughter went to the MTC. They have started to investigate the church with a little more intent as of recently. When we visited them, we went to their restaurant and start by helping with the dishes. Then, we sat down and they fed us (food is a big part of Korean culture). We had some sort of soybean paste noodles which was actually very good. We talked with them on an off while we ate about things that were happening, who I was, etc. The wife came out with pictures of her daughter that she had taken over the years. She was so proud of the fact that in every single one of the pictures that she received from her daughter at the MTC she was smiling in every single one of them. When she showed us the other pictures, she only smiled about 50% of the time. Her mother was so happy!

After the meal we started to talk to them about church and especially introduce the Book of Mormon so that they could start reading it and gaining a testimony of it. We explained about the book and had him read Moroni 10:3-5 which explains that anyone who reads the Book of Mormon and prays with faith in Jesus Christ, a sincere heart, and real intent, can know of its truthfulness through the power of the Holy Ghost. We read this with him and then bore our testimonies. My companion was explaining, so he bore his, and then I felt to bear mine, which I did in a very simple way in Korean. After we bore our testimonies we knew that he had felt the Spirit. I was looking him straight in the eyes when I declared my witness that I knew for myself that the Book of Mormon was true, and after that he looked like he felt something different in his eyes, and then kind of rolled them a little bit as if he was in a little bit of shock of realization. (I don't think I can explain the Holy Ghost touching a soul's heart in a way that could do any sort of justice). Anyways, after that moment, he said he would read the Book of Mormon every day and he committed to come to church every single week for the month (except for the most recent Sunday because he had many people coming over for a meal). We graciously helped clean up, very thankful for the provided meal, and then went to leave; but he then even offered to drive us home. It was such a great experience! I am so excited for this couple as they progress towards coming closer to Jesus Christ. 

There was another miracle on Thursday when we gave out all of our proselyting material (3 BOMs, many pamphlets and myonghams (handout cards)) which my companion had never before had happen to him. 

Yep, great things are happening here in Korea. The Lord has prepared many people to receive the Gospel and the blessings there in.

Another great story happened to us this week as we met with 김용춘 (Brother Kim Yong Choon) who is a 75 year old man that we met last week. He was interested in English, but then as we taught him about the Gospel, he opened up a lot more toward the Gospel than toward learning English. So, we planned to teach him the next visit. When we went over the second time, we taught him, but he decided in his brain that because we were white and had made a few mistakes speaking Korean, that he could not understand us. Period. Something turned in his brain where he would not understand us, at all. So, my companion and I, a little frustrated after 30 minutes of communication failure, finally got through to him that we would bring a member along to help with the translation/the teaching. So, the next time we did and he was taught and received everything pretty well. He also committed and had been reading the Book of Mormon every day, which was very exciting. He goes on a trip for the rest of August, so the last time that we will be able to meet with him is tomorrow, which will be great.

Our other investigator with potential told us that he is getting to busy for church and to do the things that we asked them which is sad. We plan to explain to him that the way that we are asking him to live is not some separate dimension of his life, but affects everything else. We are also going to challenge him to read the Book of Mormon every day for 10 days straight and to realize the difference that it makes in his life. He is a really great person, so I really hope that he can recognize the value that the Gospel has to him in his whole life--to him as a person.

That's the simple rundown of the week; quite a lot is going on. If I had time to write about all of the cultural and other aspects of this work here it would take me all of P-day to do. It's awesome and exciting, and I am learning everyday more about everything.

I hope everything continues to go well in the States, in Minnesota and Oregon! I think it's really funny that the girls changed the GPS to speak in Korean, it made me laugh (and I told my companion who laughed with me). 

As for a spiritual thought, there are two stories in the New Testament. The first is of a young rich ruler who goes to Christ and says that he has been keeping all of the commandments and asks "What lack I yet?" to which the Savior responds to him "Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor". The young rich ruler goes away sorrowing. However, in a parable related by Christ, we learn how we can have the motivation and the ability to give and sell everything. In Matthew 13 (I believe) it Christ tells many parables and one of them says that a person finds a treasure in the field, and for the joy thereof, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. 

The lesson is that we should not focus on what we lack, or what we do not do or have. Instead, we should focus our attention on the greatness and value of what we do have. As we begin to understand the profound significance of what we have, we will automatically begin to do the things that we were previously not able to do. The Gospel is what we have; Christ's Atonement at the center. Realize what we have, and the value thereof. All other things will follow. When we truly recognize the value of what we have we will give everything that we have to devote ourselves to it.

This also has a missionary application. Realize the value of what you have--and also that it has the potential to have that same value to every single person that you come in contact with every day. Share it! Something of this great value should be shared with others. Recognize and ponder the value of what you have, sacrifice to preserve and protect the value, and then help others come to realize the same joy that you have! 

Good luck with everything the next week. I will be here in Korea, working for the Lord in gathering His sheep.

Elder William Strahl 

1st Letter from Korea

Hello from 광주 South Korea, at a random library, I think. 

To update you with the traveling, we arrived here on Wednesday of last week, and then from there we spent one day at the mission home for training, and then we met our trainers the next day and from then on we were out in the mission field! My trainer is Elder Evans. He is awesome. He has only been out for 4 transfers, so about 4 months in Korea, so the language is still a little bit of a barrier. In our ward there are three sets of missionaries...and three greenies, so this is going to be a progressing transfer. Oh yeah, they don't actually speak Korean here--at least the Korean I learned. What they say is completely true--I can only understand about 10% of what is going on. Those Koreans that recognize we are Waygookians (means foreigner) enunciate a little bit more, and then I can understand more.

We visited the ward yesterday (yes, right now it is 1:45pm on Monday) and things went really well. A big cultural thing in Korea is building Jong, or a friendship/neighbor/well it's hard to explain in English. It's closest to friendship. I had to give a personal information/testimony at the beginning of the meeting and I switched up a grammar form throughout the entire thing. Luckily it wasn't too bad of a switch and it was understandable. The ward is awesome, although small (except they have 10-12 young men...for about 100 people) and the members are great. Our ward mission leader is really zealous and so awesome. He spends church going around and trying to get us referrals and whatnot from the ward members. That is why Jong is so important--through Jong you gain the trust of the members and then they will trust you with their referrals. Oh, and American Elders are at the bottom of the tier in terms of acquiring Jong (Korean sisters, Waygookian Sisters, Korean Elders, Waygookian Elders). I really like the ward and the people who attend--it is great! 

The conditions here are...different, but they are great! Firstly, it's about 80-90% humidity all day long here. Oh, and they haven't for some reason invented the air conditioner here, so things are a little sticky. But that's ok! In the bathroom I don't even need to use shaving cream to shave because my skin is so moist! This morning we woke up to a huge wind storm; that's the weather pattern here: cloudy until it decides to rain--and then it RAINS. My companion and I were out proselyting when one such storms came and it was very wet. Food here is great. It is spicy, but definitely good. The fruit is so good (but expensive), and they have some weird things. I guess the weirdest thing that I have eaten is either a squid or a full crab. Pretty good. Most of the time you eat, and then ask. Let's see...oh, so the way that Koreans live is extremely different than the way that Americans live. The cities that you see in Korea are concentrated apartments: so 15-20 stories buildings in clusters of 15-20 create the residency for a majority of the people. The people here build up. It's a lot different in that regards. Also, they don't have giant stores. Instead, everything that you need is guaranteed to be close by because there are small shops of goods all over the place--which is very handy. This way, it really is not essential to own a car, and a lot of Koreans don't. 

This week went by and we met some great people out on the street. I also taught my first lesson...ironically in English to a man with an American name of Richard. English is everywhere here. Literally everywhere; however most people only know a few words. Anyways, so Richard was interested in English, he is a member and so we were teaching him English through the Book of Mormon. He told us that he had a really cool experience where he read and felt this "power" that allowed him to keep reading and to continue to study, and to want to apply what he was learning to his life (he read Mosiah 4). We explained to him that he was feeling the Spirit. It was a great opportunity to point out the Spirit to this man. We have also have many "random" encounters with people on the street such as a person who was taught by some Elders while he was on a trip during break (or so we suspect) and then saw us and pulled over his moped and then called the Elders that he had met with and let my companion talk to them because my companion said that he knew them (Koreans are so funny). We hope to teach him as we set up a return appointment. 

Last a cool thing is happening in Korea. Our mission president says "the Spirit is brewing in Korea", and has received specific goals for this mission from Heavenly Father. The amazing thing is that the Stake President of the stake that I am serving in took us in yesterday and told us that he had prayed and before talking to each other, they had come up with the exact same specific number for the goal of the area. God is doing His work, and it is a work of revelation.

If you want to write to Korea, then write the mission office address. From there they distribute the letters. I think you should have the address somewhere. I love you all! Continue to be awesome. And remember 1 important message from the Book of Mormon. Go to Alma 19, read the account, and then ponder how important member missionary work is. Abish worked hard, and although things did not turn out exactly as she had expected, in the long run God used her to help the work along. I cannot tell you how important member missionary work is.

Love you all! Elder Strahl